Attorney: Charge to be reduced in Mississippi hot-car death

JACKSON, Miss. – A defense attorney says he expects a Mississippi prosecutor to reduce the second-degree murder charge against a man arrested last week when his 8-month-old daughter died after being left in a hot car.

Carlos Moore is the attorney for 25-year-old Joshua Blunt of Grenada, who is set to make an initial court appearance Tuesday.

Moore says Monday that city prosecutor Jennifer Adams told him she would reduce Blunt's charge to culpable negligence, which is punishable by a maximum one year in prison. The maximum penalty for second-degree murder is life in prison.

Adams told The Associated Press that she will release a statement about the case Tuesday.

Blunt's daughter, Shania Caradine, was the second Mississippi child to die in a hot car within two weeks.